Phantoms In the Night
by Raurenkili
Summary: It's just another dream... or is it? When things turn nightmarish, where will you run? Will you ever escape from the darkness, or will the night go on forever... [AU] [Rated K for mild fear and tension, and presence of undead spirits]


**A/N: If anyone is wondering, I did get permission from TriciaOakenshield (my sister) to use Aili, ****_although that particular character did show up in the dream that this fanfiction was based on._**** I hope after reading this, you'll feel you've experienced my dream.**

Phantoms in the night.

You are asleep.

You don't know you're asleep, at least not yet, but your body does. Hello there...what's my name? oh, most people just call me your subconscious...but opinions will be opinions - you're about to have an important dream. After tossing and turning for about half an hour, you finally slip into a deep sleep. Something's telling you it's going be Middle-Earth again tonight...you must really love that author...but why is it starting in a haunted house setting? Oh, this is the part of the dream where it's muddled at the beginning. This is very frightening...I guess I better add your character now, oh, Aili a dwarf girl will join you tonight.

* * *

**Y**ou are descending through levels of consciousness, now levels of air, heavily clouded; coming down into a two story farm-style house that desperately needs a coat of paint and some structure work. The roof is caving in and you can see through the worn rafters... There's a middle-aged man in the kitchen, and it is very dark... is it some sort of ritual? There are nine beings in a circle around him, and they all have black cloaks on, very black. They all have dim red candles; _oh, please don't put me in there_, you think. You breathe a sigh of relief when you realize you're going into the adjoining room. Hey! Your friend is here too. Aili? She's a dwarf girl from her own fanfictions, you conclude.

"What's going on?" Aili asks you as she lands on the cold wooden floor of the room.

"Shhhhhh you're in my dream," You reply, "Did you see what's going on in the kitchen?"

"Yeah, those guys with the green potion things."

"Potion things?"

"Shhh I hear voices!"

"_Where?"_

Aili puts a cold hand over your mouth to quiet your question and points with her other hand to a dusty vent in the lower right corner of the wall connected to the kitchen. You get down on your hands and knees and crawl your way silently to the vent, and with a slight creak lift the metal grate and look in. Aili peeks over your shoulder,

"Can you see anything?

"Yes, they're giving the man in the center one of those potions, he's drinking it now."

"Ick, I wouldn't drink that stuff."

"Oh be quiet Aili they're talking again."

"How are you supposed to know what they're saying? It's like 'Nar, gash, rah' kind of stuff, sounds weird to me."

You somehow understand the strange language of the robed beings, they're saying, "He has to be different, it is a New Age now."

You and Aili watch in horror as the potion begins to take effect on the man, who you now know from their short conversation to be named "Rider." His color begins to fade, even against the dim room, and a black cloak seems to come from inside him and encompass his body, while his face submerges into the blackness of his hood. A dim flicker of eyes reflected from the candles, and his face disappears completely into the hood. You elbow Aili,

"I know what they are now..."

"What?"

"They're Nazgul, and that's their newest member."

"What? Then, we must be in Middle Earth! Aili whispers loudly."

"Yes, and this is a Nightmare if things don't start looking better."

"Uh...uh..." Aili pokes you nervously and points with a shaky hand to the vent.

She had peeked through it when you shifted back, and now her eyes are widening by the second. You quickly look through it and behold what is happening; _the man's head is disappearing._

Your mind repeats the words they had said just minutes before, "He has to be different." _That's it! _You conclude in your mind. _The Nazgul changed their new member by giving him a potion that would remove his head, differentiating him from the others. And this is the new age they were talking about! The age of dreams? The Nazgul never had a tenth member! Is this guy from something I thought about before going to sleep? After all, the last thing you think about before sleeping runs through your brain seven times before you wake up...I wonder what he's from? Guess I'll find out._ All these thoughts flash through your mind in an instant... meanwhile...

... The being's dissolving head turns toward you at the sound of Aili's loud exclamation seconds before. The Nazgul cackle to each other and blow out the candles with their dark breath, and as the lights go out, two glowing yellow eyes appear from the place where the things head would be, as its neck disappears completely. The eyes stare right through the vent, right at you. They move closer, and you back away. Now they come at a frightening pace. He doesn't turn for the door that you soon see at the other side of the wall, but keeps on straight. _Is he coming through the wall,_ you wonder? But suddenly interrupting your thoughts comes a bone-chilling scream, so high-pitched you think your head will burst. The figure moves _through_ the wall, emerging darkly from the lighter wooden planks, and the luminescent eyes show through. With the scream, nine other pairs of yellow and red eyes kindle to life as they advance quickly.

"Elbereth Gilthoniel!" You scream at the top of your lungs, reciting one of the only Elvish cries you know from reading The Lord of the Rings. You fall silent and stand transfixed, trembling as the black figures - not daunted by the cry - advance. The flash of steel sounds with a cold glint accompanying it.

* * *

Aili frantically searches for a way of escape. She seeks for where the thin beams of light are coming from and soon looks up disappointed at the gaping rafters, where a few flakes of snow are drifting through. She runs to the back of the room, knocking over a coat-hanger, a dusty umbrella and a large ceramic pot of dead flowers in her frantic search for a way out. On the back wall she finds the door to the adjoining room. Feeling around for the handle, she finds a glass doorknob and twists, but it doesn't move. She wrenches it with all her strength, but still it stays steadfast. Realizing that she is running out of time, she grabs the umbrella and jams it into the locked door. She hears a sword being drawn, and throwing a glance over her shoulder wriggles the lock frantically with wide eyes.

* * *

You hear a sound like wood cracking, but suddenly, you feel yourself pulled backwards. Snapping to your senses, you turn your head to find Aili dragging you by the back of your cloak. She comes up to a wooden door with a large hole where the lock had been and kicks it open, moving into a dark adjoining room towards a half broken glass window in the back. Letting go of you, she jams the umbrella into the hole where the lock was; holding the door shut, then turns and takes a running start, jumping sideways and tucking her legs. With a crash, the rest of the glass shatters and she is out. You follow her example with some hesitation, breaking into the crisp night air as you fall out of the first story window and tumble onto damp, cold grass. You stand up to find yourself in a large clearing surrounded by a dark forest consisting mostly of tall pine trees. The stars are out and judging by the position of the moon it is almost midnight. You look toward Aili who has just gotten to her feet where she fell. She points to the nearest edge of the darkening forest and nods to you, but with a quick look behind you her eyes light in fear.

"RUN!" Aili screams, and is answered by a squealing, rearing horse right behind you. Stumbling over your own feet as you try to pick up speed you run headlong for the trees, not daring to look back at the pounding hooves behind you. They stop for a split second, seemingly waiting for the others to join, and join they do. That second gives you enough time to recall that you do not particularly like large, dark, forests at night. Slowing your pace a little, you consider that you might escape from the Nazgul just to run into the jaws of a lurking forest creature. You return from your thoughts with a start to realize that you are supposed to be running from something and sprint to the edge of the forest that Aili is already slipping into. Making up for the speed you lost gives you enough headway to reach the forest before they are upon you, and getting a chance to look back while wrapping your arms around a tree at the edge of the forest, you realize you don't have much time to lose. Looking behind you makes you mentally kick yourself for not figuring it out before. The Headless Horseman is teamed with the ringwraiths, and they're after you!

"**I have come for your heads!**" he yells toward the forest, followed by the screams of the Nine Riders. The two sounds don't go together, but they're equally frightening as they charge for the forest, cruel blades glinting at the Full Moon, which is in optimum position, signaling Midnight - the time for all nightmares. You turn from the tree against all fear of the dark and flee into the forest, hoping against hope it won't be a long night. You catch up to Aili, and ducking under low-hanging branches and jumping over logs, you're running side by side through the dark when suddenly you miss a step and fall. A Nazgul screams far behind as you feel along the ground behind you for what you tripped over and feel a large tree root stretched across the ground behind you. You jump quickly to your feet and keep running, and Aili gives you a concerned glance as she passes you again. Suddenly a black horse comes galloping up on your right. Aili squeals in fright and you come to a sharp halt and turn left. A few minutes later, you fall over what feels like the same root. After getting up and having to catch Aili yet again you come upon the same horse. This time it gets so close it steps on the dark blue cloak you're wearing and tears the corner off. You get to your feet again after another stumble, and to your surprise find the same thick root on the forest floor behind you. You get up a little slower, but you don't notice the repeating pattern, until you trip and fall over a familiar root the next time. The Nazgul shrieks yet again, this time even closer. Getting up slower and slower each time you fall, you can now just barely see Aili's flitting shadow ahead of you through the leaves. You try to catch up to her, and try to go straight as you suspect you're going in circles...but all this running makes you so tired... you want to stop and catch your breath, but the unearthly screams and whispers of your pursuers come from every side. You trip and fall again, and before you can get up, the blood-curdling scream sounds as if it's close enough to breath down your neck. Your breath comes in rigid gasps and you see Aili as a blur dashing out in front of you. You struggle to your feet and struggle to start running again. You don't know where Aili is going; it seems like she is leading you in another circle but in your weariness you follow her. In fact, you can't even see her very well, is that her? Who are you following? You try to ignore your surroundings and breath deep, half closing your eyes and willing your feet to go faster, but you don't look where you are going and trip yet again, this time hitting your head on a sharp rock. At least something to break the pattern of this unending night. you think. The tip of your shoe is stuck between the two parts of the root, and lacking the strength to pull it out you roll slowly over to face the sky as a trickle starts down your forehead from the impact of the stone. With half seeing eyes you stare blankly up at the fuzzy, pure white moon rising between the tall, black trees. You blink away a drop of chilled blood that falls into your half closed eye. Shadows dance in your vision as you gasp for air, and thunder claps as you helplessly watch it begin to rain. As you begin to wonder why the monotonous scream doesn't sound yet again, a muddy hoof beat resounds directly in front of you. Another, and yet another beat and the glistening chest of a black horse slowly comes into your view. The beast halts as its black-robed rider leans forward in the saddle, seeming to stare triumphantly at his prey with his leering headless figure, though the eyes you had seen before were gone. As he shifts forward, an icy cold wind slithers across the ground and blows the dark brown hair away from your soaked forehead.

"I have you now little one," The Headless Horseman breathes, as all other forest sounds seem to stop, and wait for his next utterance. Raising his voice, he shouts; "Feel my power, and to Elbereth cry no more!" His horse shrieks and rears over your prostrate body, but with all the effort in you, you push off the root unsticking your toe, and gain a sitting position, then slide backwards across the muddy ground as the fatal hooves hit with a snap and crush the thick tree-root. The horse rears again as lightning flashes, but this time its course is altered. As the hooves begin to descend,_ a Dwarvish battle cry breaks the second of deathly silence, refusing it the place of authority, as its victim would never belong to it._

* * *

DU BEKAR!" Aili yells with all her might as she charges toward the small figure's impending doom. She leaps over you, and getting a foot on firm ground, plunges her new found sword up to the hilts in the horse's chest. The animal screams and reels backwards, tipping over and causing its phantom rider to topple to the ground. Grabbing you by the arm she pulls you along, straight through the forest. She ignores the screams all around and walks through the visions of fear, straight to the light at the end of the trees.

* * *

**A**s you emerge from the forest, you realize that what you have been running through was only a slim line of trees, and that you have been going in circles, as you both suspected. Breaking through that line, you find yourselves in an even larger clearing, which is actually a long line without trees, stretching as far as you can see in either direction until on one side it reaches the foothills of snow-capped mountains in the distance. With a start you suddenly realize you are standing in front of the borders of Mirkwood. There in front of you is Beorn's house, the Carrock, Anduin, and everything that belongs to the well-known scene. Stopping for a short time to take in the surroundings, you begin running again at the memory of moments before, running toward the borders of the great forest you are seemingly shut out of. Shut out? That's strange you think to yourself...There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, other than those strange black rocks everywhere, but the feeling of banishment is surrounding the trees. How are you to get in, and avoid the monsters behind you? Isn't that the prevailing question in dreams...

* * *

Hello, it's you your subconscious again, lets fast-forward here, that body of yours is about to wake up because of all that light coming through the window, and the most important part is coming soon!

* * *

You are standing, -seemingly small and unimportant- next to the tall, looming trees at the edge of Mirkwood. You shake water out of your cloak and shiver a little. (At least you proved Aili wrong about the waters of Anduin being _warm.)_

While contemplating the reason your friend got you to jump in the river while she crossed in shallow water, you walk into a patch of light by the edge of the forest.

"Um..." Aili says in a strange voice.

You look forward quickly, soon realizing the light in front of you was not from the sun - then realizing what it _did_ come from.

You take a step back in astonishment, then fall forward to bow flat on the ground in awe and respect, gasping, "Your Majesty!"

For there stands Thranduil, the King of Mirkwood himself. Light flowing from his glittering silver robe and emanating from his being. In your heart you shall always remember this moment, when _you met the Elvenking of Mirkwood._ Yes, surely you will remember this even when you wake up. Thranduil has just saved you from your Nightmare, coming to you like an angel to invite you into safety. And now, when you think things couldn't get more amazing, He says the most beautiful words you shall ever hear. Not in Elvish or the tongue of the Dwarves does he say it, but plainly, and in a Majestic voice, he says to you:

"_Rise, Dear One." _And taking your small quivering hand, he helps you to your feet.

You have never felt more thrilled than you do in this moment, holding the hand of the King, and looking up at the light coming from the flowing golden hair and shining ice blue eyes that make up one of the Elves you have most adored in your lifetime. He offers that you come with him to Lasgalen, to escape the Nazgul until you wake up..._until you wake up..._That's right, you are dreaming...

Thranduil then makes the same offer to Aili, who stands directly behind you. He reaches out to take her hand to lead her into the forest, but to your surprise she bats it away and stares defiantly into his eyes. That's when you remember your friend is a Dwarf loving Elf hater. Then, to your complete astonishment, Aili turns her back on you and Thranduil, and walks slowly away, back to the dark nightmare she has just helped you escape from. You think Isaiah 53:6 applies here... something about people going astray... but as the time of your thought passes, things begin to get lighter... maybe it's Thranduil's luminescence, maybe it's something else...the color of the scene begins to fade as the Elvenking leads the small girl into the eaves of the forest...they begin to talk to each-other...The tall figure implies that his Warriors will take care of the Ulairi. The child attempts to resist an urge, then reaches up and fondly twirls a strand of golden hair. He smiles, and she simply says;

"Oh, your Majesty, Silmarien says hello."

THE END

...until tomorrow night, when our dreams meet again.

Authors note:

_This fanfiction was based completely on a dream I had, so apologies if the Thranduil part wasn't long enough. The beginning was unclear, so I ad-libbed a bit. My friend Silmarien encouraged me to write it down in fanfiction form and post it here. I do believe the true Thranduil that has been tucked away in my heart has finally been revealed in my dream. Unfortunately, Silmarien's request to have me write about Thranduil's Elven warriors' fight with the Nazgul was never fulfilled, because I woke up before it happened. Thranduil only told me about it. Special thanks go to: __**TriciaOakenshield**__: thanks sis for doing such great Beta Work and suggesting I write the story in second person. __**Silmarien**__, thank you for persuading me to write a fanfiction out of my dream, and for keeping me going when I didn't want to write it anymore. __**Irisse,**__ for being an expectant fan! Thanks so much for reading this, I hope you check out my other fanfictions...and I'd love some feedback on the story, so feel free to review! –__**Raurenkili**_

_With TriciaOakenshield as BetaReader_


End file.
